Leon Bridges recently embarked on The Boundless Tour with Matthieu Larivée of Luz Studio doing the creative direction, production design, and video. “We collaborated with LD Bobby Mathias for the lighting,” Larivée says. “It’s again a real mix of lighting and video together. The new feature is the AI. We are using artificial intelligence to film Leon and be able to integrate him in virtual set pieces.”
Shining on The Shins
LD Benjamin Marx is spending his summer with The Shins’ Oh, Inverted World—The 21st Birthday Tour, which started in July in the U.S. Marx says, “As the tour is celebrating the 21st anniversary of the band’s debut record, Oh Inverted World, I had a backdrop hand-painted with the sycamore branches depicted in the album artwork. In front of it I hang a sharkstooth scrim [which when lit properly, can appear opaque or transparent], and so I’m able to hide the branches at will. We decided to go white for the production design. White backdrop, white scrim, white keyboard stands, for the elevation boxes for the amps, the riser skirt, with the final touch having the band wear white, allowing for a beautiful canvas to paint on,” he says. “Everything had to fit in one truck, so I had to be careful not to make it too big, but to still have enough lighting to provide me with options and dynamics. All in all, I really tried to emulate the beautiful simplicity that comes across in the songs.”
Light & Shadow Seminar
To celebrate his 30-year career of lighting design and his 50th birthday, Mikki Kunttu has organized In the Light Mikki Kunttu Festival in his native Finland. Along with live entertainment, the fest features an international seminar on lighting and visualization called The Light & Shadow. Set as keynote speakers for the Sept. 28 seminar are creatives LeRoy Bennett (Paul McCartney, Prince, Lady Gaga, Beyoncé), Christopher Bauder (WHITEvoid, Dark Matter Berlin), Benjamin Dupont (Moment Factory), Ola Melzig (Eurovision Song Contest, American Song Contest) and Ralph-Jörg Wezorke (Lightpower). Kunttu will also join in, tapping into his experiences with Cirque du Soleil, Apocalyptica, the Boston Ballet, Finnish National Opera, and more.
Says Kunttu, “Light & Shadow aims to bring the speakers close to the audience. We want to talk about what we feel is the most essential to the path we are on as designers and professionals: What it is to live the life of a designer and which events have had the biggest impact on us over the years. Sharing with the next generation is very important and that is exactly what this event is all about.” He says the gathering is needed, especially in light of the pandemic’s impact on the live event industry. “Light & Shadow seminar will allow us to learn from each other, to support each other, to catch a breath and to regain energies after a period that has affected our entire sector globally.” Learn more about the event at: www.tampere-talo.fi/en/events/music-x-media-light-shadow-seminaari
So Immersed
Robb Jibson’s So Midwest, Inc. design team is immersed in projects with immersive events. Having already done Immersive Van Gogh, they are now handling animations and programing for Immersive Frida Kahlo and Immersive Monet in 20 cities, followed by more events. Along with that, they’ve got kids’ touring shows including Peppa Pig Live and have updated the animated scenic elements and lighting for Baby Shark Live! 2022 Splash Tour and Blippi Live! as well. On the rock ‘n’ roll side, they have Chevelle out with a ground package playing festivals. And there’s still room to rock on the calendar, as Jibson declares, “We are looking for new artists to work with!”
Busy at Borealis
Nashville-based Borealis Live Design, in business for around eight years, also provides lighting/control rentals to accompany some of their projects. Co-founders Jeff Mathews and Christian Hall report in on a handful of current tours on the road. They wrapped up Tate McRae’s spring/summer headlining tour. They’ve got All Time Low out with their video content, lighting programming, and media servers running into fall. VHS Collection just wrapped their summer run with LD Nate Leininger. Borealis also provided set/lighting design, programming and lighting consoles for Dan + Shay’s summer tour supporting Kenny Chesney’s Here and Now Tour with Mathews as the programmer/ LD. They also designed and are providing gear for The Pretty Reckless with a substantial floor package. Rodger Pugh took over for LD James Poole, who recently passed away. Meanwhile, the fall schedule is filling up quickly, Mathews notes, and he’s already excited about 2023.
Quick Cues
Sooner Routhier of Sooner Rae Creative has designed Panic! at the Disco’s Viva Las Vengeance World Tour. Alex Specht is the LD, with the first U.S. show starting Sept. 9.
LD Dan Hardiman reports that he had just finished the U.S. leg of Tori Amos’ Ocean to Ocean tour, flew back to the UK for a long weekend at home, then was back out there on July 1 to start prep for the Goo Goo Dolls Summer Tour, which is still ongoing in the U.S.
Phil Kaikoura of Kaikoura Light Design is the designer and director of Jack Johnson’s Meet the Moonlight Tour.
LD Graham Rolak, who has a long working relationship with Incubus, is back on the road with the band. He says lately he’s been designing and building more media server and content packages for bands.
The Killers with LD Steven Douglas kicked off their North American run in August.
After New Kids on the Block’s MixTape Tour (see story, this issue, page 22), Lighting Designer/Programmer Cat West went on to Christina Aguilera’s tour. Lighting Director Emily Bornt headed out for Demi Lovato’s tour, designed by the Fireplay design team, with Melody Tseng as creative director, Nick Whitehouse as designer, and Brian Vaughan as programmer. “We are heading to South America for a few weeks using local rigs—including Rock in Rio—and will be touring the U.S. this fall with our own rig,” Bornt says.
Still “Blue”
Ali “Blue” Allison is the LD for Fleet Foxes’ tour, featured in this issue’s Showtime section on page 21. But PLSN knows her as Ali “Blue” Siegel, with Ali short for Allison. Allison Allison? Turns out it’s not a new stage name. There’s another simple reason. “I got married!” she says. “To a man whose last name is my first name. Ridiculous, right?” She says when she gets around to filling out the paperwork, her legal name will be Allison Siegel Allison. “But I will always be Ali Blue, though!”
Send your fall tour news to PLSN Co-Editor Debi Moen at dmoen@plsn.com
